What about a job?

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volleywallyMD

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I am looking for advise. I am about half way through my UG and I am about to change employers. I know shadowing and research is important and I'm getting into that but my question is in regards to my job. Any advise on whether I should get a job in the medical field and take a pay cut to gain experience or should I get another job that still pays well, even if its not in the medical field and still just make sure I shadow? Looking for any advise:)

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I am looking for advise. I am about half way through my UG and I am about to change employers. I know shadowing and research is important and I'm getting into that but my question is in regards to my job. Any advise on whether I should get a job in the medical field and take a pay cut to gain experience or should I get another job that still pays well, even if its not in the medical field and still just make sure I shadow? Looking for any advise:)

Well it depends on how much of a paycut you're getting. If it's not debilitating, i'd suggest a med job.
 
Do you pay for your own tuition etc? If so, then stick with the higher paying job, and in your application, they will take that into account.
 
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Yes I do pay for my own tuition and thats why I was wondering. I want to gain experience besides just shadowing but I want to be able to pay for school, so which is more important?
 
Do you pay for your own tuition etc? If so, then stick with the higher paying job, and in your application, they will take that into account.
They might, but don't be sure about it one way or the other. I'd try for the medical jobs.
 
Hi,

I was in a similar situation with regard to paying tuition, etc. You've got to get through school at the end of the day, and if you're going to need to work 35 hours a week at the lower paying job vs. 20 hours a week at the higher paying job, you're grades may well suffer. You've gotta keep your GPA up above all else. Or you might not be able to pay your tuition, and everything goes to pot. So, I'd suggest taking the higher paying job if you're covering living expenses. Med schools don't really care (or at least, didn't in my case). I mean, really, what kind of clinical job are you going to get as an undergrad? What kind of insight are you going to gain that you couldn't have gained just by following a doc around for a day?

Best,
Anka
 
The adcom I serve on got to talking one afternoon after the meeting about the jobs we'd had in college. Several of us worked in family owned retail stores, one worked in a slaughterhouse, one was the college switchboard operator (in the olden days of telephone service). We've admitted applicants who worked in road construction, as food servers, we even interviewed someone who had been a part-time bank teller (I don't recall if that one was admitted).

As long as you can answer "why medicine" and you've "smelled patients" through work or volunteer activities (or shadowing), the adcom doesn't much care what you've done to earn an income. If anything, the feeling when we had this discussion was that blue collar work experiences and work that involves service to the public (retail and food service in particular) teaches some "life lessons" that come in handy in medicine.
 
I would find the highest paying job you can, work as few hours as you can get away with, and use the extra time to do medical-related things. I can't imagine that you would be able to find a well-paying job in the medical field. Plus, having different jobs does set you apart-supporting yourself during college is no joke.

(ps, it's advice. "advise" is a verb. I see this mistake almost daily on sdn.)
 
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